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Trucy had introduced her fathers to video games.
It started when she introduced Miles and Phoenix to Minecraft, working as hard as she could in her magic shows to afford herself and her fathers all one copy each of Minecraft. They were a little confused at first—Miles’ definition of a fun day was reading a book while drinking tea, and Phoenix had no idea how to play even just Tetris—but they soon got addicted when they finally learned the controls…taking much more time on Phoenix’s end. They made a little family server for each other, where Phoenix would build little cute houses for himself and everyone else, Miles optimized everything to the best of his ability to get resources for Phoenix’s said cute houses, and Trucy just liked to collect cute animals like axolotls and foxes.
With her integration of Minecraft into their family a success, Trucy’s next goal was getting them to play Stardew Valley. It was a cute, fun, and relaxing game that she legitimately enjoyed, playing it until past midnight even after her fathers had repeatedly scolded her for staying up so late. Trucy had bought her own copy from Steam a few years ago, and she was obsessed ever since. Playing Co-Op with her friends, Trucy realized that along with their family Minecraft server, they could play Stardew Valley together too! And they both had Steam accounts anyhow, Trucy had made some for them years ago, even though they were left unused ever since.
Well, it was going to be used now!
And so, Trucy worked her butt off to afford two copies of Stardew Valley. It was satisfying finally buying the two copies off of Steam, immediately jumping from her bed and running to her fathers—who were in the living room—to show off their copies to them.
“Daddy! Papa!” Trucy called out to them, bouncing in excitement. “I got you something! I got you something!”
Miles raised a brow, intrigued. “What is it, Trucy?”
Phoenix nodded along, showing interest too.
“Tada!” Trucy grinned as she showed off her phone to her fathers. “I got you guys Stardew Valley!”
Her fathers both looked at each other, confused as hell, before looking back at Trucy.
“What’s Stardew and why is it in a valley?” Phoenix asked.
Trucy sighed, she had a lot to teach them.
When they finally had free time to play together, Trucy gathered all three of them so they could start their first farm together. It took a little bit of setting up—and some technical difficulties with her technologically illiterate fathers—but finally she got it to work. They decided Miles be the host, since his laptop had the best internet out of all of theirs. They all made their own little farmer characters, and soon the game began, and Trucy grinned as she watched the opening scene with their in-game grandfather, and soon, the game officially started. Trucy got her parsnip seeds and immediately went to plant them. Her fathers? They had a little…difficulty starting.
“So like, how do I move?” Phoenix asked.
“WASD, like in Minecraft, Daddy.” Trucy replied.
“Ah, hold on…” Phoenix grinned when his little player moved. “Oh hey, cool, it did move!”
Miles scoffed. “I swear, Phoenix. You’re so horrible at video games.” He said, ignoring Phoenix’s glare. Then, he asked. “So, err…how do I get out of my house?”
“By going out the door!” Trucy answered.
“And…where is that?”
“Ha! I’m out the door, Miles! Who’s bad at video games now?”
“Phoenix, I swear to all that is holy…”
Thankfully, they were able to get the hang of Stardew Valley’s controls very soon—it honestly wasn’t that complicated—and they proceeded to play the rest of the afternoon until evening, when they finally had dinner. But they were so engrossed in the game they forgot to even prepare dinner, so Miles had them order pizza instead. Trucy had never felt more loved in her life than when she was sitting at the dining table eating pizza with her fathers, as they talked about their plans for the farm. Phoenix asked them for theme ideas for their farm’s decorations, and Miles asked Trucy for the most optimized crops to grow to make the maximum money—which with how much she played Stardew she had memorized at this point.
As her fathers laughed about something, Trucy smiled.
This was an awesome day!
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Soon enough, Miles and Phoenix were just as engrossed into Stardew Valley as Trucy was.
Well…almost. Trucy was very very obsessed with the silly little farming game.
Whenever they were all free, Trucy would help Miles boot up the farm and the entire family would play together and build up their farm. However, since the three of them were always busy—Miles and Phoenix with their work, and Trucy with cases with Apollo and Athena, school, and her magic shows—they were only on the third week of summer of the first year, having sunk in almost 11 hours on their save file. Miles and Phoenix both genuinely looked forward to playing, always excited when they had free time to play. So far, Phoenix liked farming and going to the mines, meanwhile Miles liked fishing and optimizing everything to run as smoothly as possible. Trucy tried her best not to spoil anything, grinning whenever her fathers discovered something new in the game.
One of the things they hadn’t talked about just yet were the romanceable characters, seemed Phoenix and Miles hadn’t realized or even thought about it. Trucy had her sights set on her favorite emo boy Sebastian, doing her best to romance him, and she was already at five hearts with him. She squealed in delight at his heart events, his heart events were so romantic! But her fathers hadn’t made any progress romancing any of the NPCs, and though Trucy didn’t like outright telling them what to do—in her opinion, the best part of gaming was the discovery—at some point she was going to have to tell them.
Thankfully, Phoenix had asked about it, one afternoon when they gathered in the living room to play Stardew together.
“Hey, Trucy. Question.” Phoenix said, adding when Trucy turned to him in intrigue. “Why does Leah have two darker hearts in her heart meter thingie?”
“Oh! That means she’s bachelorette, Daddy.” Trucy answered.
Miles raised a brow at her. “And that means?”
“It’s self-explanatory, Papa!” Trucy said with a giggle, adding when Miles rolled his eyes. “Bachelors and bachelorettes are the NPCs you marry.”
Phoenix looked surprised. “Wait, you can do that?”
“Yeah! The guys you can marry are Harvey, Elliot, Shane, Alex, Sebastian, and Sam. The girls are Haley, Abigail, Penny, Leah, Emily, and Maru.” Trucy said.
“Huh.” Phoenix nodded, then grinning as he said. “Dibs on Harvey!”
“You can have Harvey, Phoenix. Not my type.” Miles said, then adding. “Elliot, on the other hand, seems like a pleasant presence.”
“Heh, your type is nerds.”
“Said the man marrying a doctor.”
“And the one who married an uptight prosecutor.”
“You’re unbearable, Phoenix.” Miles said with a scoff.
Phoenix laughed.
Trucy giggled, then adding. “You know, Daddy, Papa, you can marry each other in Stardew, too!”
“Oh?” Miles looked intrigued. “Really, now?”
“Oh, that’s actually really cool. Do you like, press a button or something?” Phoenix asked.
“Nope! For the NPCs you gotta get them to eight hearts and then give them a bouquet to start dating, but you can only marry them after you’ve upgraded your house. You don’t have to do that for other players, though!” Trucy said, then adding with a thoughtful hum as she stroked her chin. “Well, you still have to upgrade the house, but you don’t need to do all of that heart gaining and bouquet stuff. You just need an engagement ring.”
“And where do we get that?” Miles asked.
“You get the recipe from the wandering trader, and then you craft it with five iridium bars and a prismatic shard.” Trucy answered.
“Oh…” Miles frowned. “That sounds expensive.”
“It is. Prismatic shards are the rarest gem in the entire game, and you can only get iridium ore from the Skull Caverns. Maaaybe you can get iridium ore from mythic stones at the bottom of the mines? Really low chance, though.” Trucy said.
Miles nodded, looking thoughtful.
The three all continued to play Stardew Valley until they were done for the day, and Phoenix was happy to finally complete the summer foraging bundle, grinning as the little scene for completing the bundle played—along with soft music. As she settled into her bed to text her friends about something, Trucy had forgotten all about their conversation of how to marry another farmer in the game.
But Miles hadn’t forgotten.
Dear god, he hadn’t forgotten.
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“Wait guys, I’mma get a glass of water. And don’t you dare prank me while I’m AFK!”
Trucy was in her room playing in her Minecraft server with her friends, staying up late since some of them had traveled halfway across the country in different states for college. Honestly, she was glad they were all still close, talking extensively on Discord and having voice calls almost every week. Right now, they were playing on their Minecraft server that they’d played for years. They had modded this one, since vanilla Minecraft had gotten a little boring for them, Pearl asking them specifically for farming mods, which they happily obliged. She’d been playing with them for hours ever since after she ate dinner, though right now she needed a glass of water.
She got up from her bed and made her way out of her bedroom, going down the stairs and then to the kitchen. Getting herself a glass of water, Trucy drank it, her eyes absentmindedly scanning through the house. Though, as she set the glass on the sink—she’ll wash it tomorrow—she heard the sound of…mouse clicking? What? Trucy followed the sound, which led her to the living room, and she didn’t expect to see what she saw.
Sat on the sofa, with the living room’s lights turned off, hunched over a laptop, was her father Miles Edgeworth.
…What the hell was he doing up so late?
“Uh…Papa?”
Miles jumped in surprise, looking up at her. “Ah! Trucy darling, you scared me.”
“Uhh…” Trucy trailed off. In her opinion, the sight of Miles hunched over in total darkness, the light of his laptop illuminating his face as though he was a serial killer, was much scarier. “What’re you doing? It’s like, past midnight.”
“I can say the same thing for you, young lady. Why are you still up?”
“I’m a college student, Papa. Of course my sleep schedule is bad.” Trucy said with a giggle.
“…Oh.”
“Still, I’m curious what you’re doing.” Trucy said, walking over to the sofa and sitting right next to her father, seeing his screen. “…You’re playing Stardew?”
“Yes. I wanted to play but I didn’t want to wake Phoenix up, so I’m playing in the living room.” Miles said, then hesitating, before asking. “Was I…not supposed to? Play without the two of you?”
“No, it’s fine! Stardew is a good game, and I’ve played on our Minecraft server without you two tons.” Trucy said with a giggle, taking a closer look at his screen. “What’re you doing at Cindersnap Forest, Papa?”
“Collecting wood.” Miles answered.
Trucy raised a brow. “You’re staying up late playing Stardew…to get wood?”
“I have my priorities.” Miles grumbled.
“Sure, Papa.” Trucy said, giggling when Miles rolled his eyes. She got up and then said. “Well, I’m going back to my room. Good luck with collecting wood, Daddy!”
“Good night, Trucy darling.” Miles said distractedly, focusing on the game.
Trucy was soon back in her room, continuing to play Minecraft with her friends. She slept at around 3 o’clock in the morning, immediately passing out after she placed her laptop on her desk and as soon as she got in bed.
Come morning, she grumbled as she trudged her feet to the kitchen. Thankfully, she had no scheduled classes that morning, and one of professors had cancelled an afternoon class, leaving her free until 5 PM. She sat down at the dining table, Phoenix was already making them all breakfast—chocolate chip pancakes—and Miles was sipping a cup of tea. He looked exhausted, and honestly? Mood.
“Good morning, Trucy dear.” Phoenix said.
“Good morning, Daddy…” Trucy murmured.
“Yeesh, you two. Both of you look exhausted.” Phoenix said with a shake of his head,, as he plated another pancake. “Did you like, not sleep or anything?”
Miles and Trucy shared a knowing look, and she couldn’t help but laugh a little.
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Trucy was having a nice, soothing sleep. After a whole day of studying for her midterms—which was a week away, but Miles and Apollo always told her studying ahead was good work ethic—and helping Athena out with a case, she was ready to finally get to sleep. After eating dinner, she immediately passed out as soon as she collapsed on her bed, hugging one of her many stuffed toys on her bed. It was blissful, getting to get a good night’s rest, especially since her schedule was packed tomorrow, with all of the classes she had and a group project she needed to meet up with her groupmates with. She needed the sleep, honestly!
Though, a few hours into her sleep, when it was already late at night, Trucy felt someone gently shake her to wake her up. Trucy, ever the light sleeper, groaned as her eyes slowly opened, grumbling as the light from the hallway practically blinded her. Adjusting her eyes, she was met with her father Miles Edgeworth, looking at her with imploringly. Why the heck did he want? And so late at night, too?
“Trucy, I need your help.” Miles simply said.
“Papa, it’s like, really late…” Trucy murmured groggily.
“This is important, Trucy.”
“Ugh…what is it?”
“How do you get a prismatic shard?” Miles asked.
“…Huh?”
“In Stardew Valley, how do you get a prismatic shard?”
Trucy softly sighed, she was too sleepy for this. “Check the Stardew Wiki, Papa. All of the Stardew info is there.”
“I can just search that on the internet, right?” Miles asked.
“Yes, Papa. Just search it up.” Trucy said, groaning as she turned over. “Now lemme sleep, I’m tired…”
Miles soon left the room and Trucy slept again. And thankfully, he didn’t bother her for the rest of the night.
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Trucy hummed as she harvested her blueberries, picking up the extras that fell, smiling at the satisfying sound effects.
After such a stressful week—she’d had midterm exams the whole week, which was thankfully made a little easier since Apollo and Athena helped her study—she was glad to get to get to play Stardew Valley with her fathers as a nice little reward for all of her hard work. They were already on the second year of autumn in game, Phoenix and Miles both played a bit while Trucy was busy with school, which she honestly didn’t mind one bit. They tended to her crops and animals like they promised they would, and she was a little delighted when Phoenix had upgraded her coop and gotten her a few ducks, her favorite animal in the entire game! She was giggling when she heard the goofy “quack!” noises that the ducks made.
Right now she was just tending to her crops and animals, planning to go to Skull Caverns if her luck was good the next day. Her fathers were…honestly, she didn’t know what they were doing. It was pretty early in the morning in-game, and Trucy had seen Phoenix’s player character book it downwards to Cindersnap Forest as soon as she got out of her house, and Miles hadn’t even emerged out of his house just yet. He’d been grinding at the game harder than any of the three of them, which was saying something, since Trucy was addicted to the game. He was the first one to get his house upgraded, he always went to the wandering trader to search for things they needed for the community center, and he’d been the one who unlocked the Skull Caverns.
Trucy was wondering what he had planned, though she got her answer a few minutes later.
“Phoenix? Where are you?” Miles asked.
“Just at the river fishing for the catfish, it’s the last thing we need for the community center.” Phoenix answered.
Trucy giggled. “Daddy, it needs to rain for you to catch a catfish.”
“Oh…” Phoenix smiled sheepishly. “Well, least we’ve got lots of fish to sell!”
“Never complaining about that!” Trucy said with a laugh.
“Yes.” Miles said, then adding. “I must tell you something, though. Do you mind coming to the farm?”
“Sure! Just lemme catch this fish for a sec…”
Trucy saw Phoenix’s little player character run up on her way to get some water from the little pond. Miles’ player character was holding an engagement ring, and immediately everything just clicked. Why Miles was playing so much, his insistence to unlock the Skull Caverns, upgrading his house as soon as he could, his frequent trips to the wandering trader, all the questions he asked her—to the point of waking her up. He wanted to get married to Phoenix in-game as soon as he could, and it seemed he was he was determined to do it as soon as possible. Trucy peeked from her laptop, just to watch what would unfold next in curiosity.
“Phoenix…” Miles’ lip was trembling, as if this was an IRL proposal. It wasn’t, it was a video game proposal. “These past few in-game days have been…wonderful. The best hours I’ve ever had in my life. Farming together, joining forces in the mines, fishing in those quiet morning hours…”
Trucy raised a brow, how was any of that romantic? Those were just…normal things you did in Stardew Valley Co-Op?
“Oh my god, Miles…” Phoenix looked so happy that he was about to cry.
“…Being around you has been a joy, Phoenix. You are the man who I want to spend the rest of my life with, both in Stardew Valley…and in real life.”
Trucy’s jaw dropped as she saw Miles get down on one knee—like an actual proposal!—and take out a small black velvet box, opening it. Inside the box was a ring with purple gold and a shiny iridescent opal, like the engagement ring in-game. Holy moly, how expensive was that thing? Sometimes Trucy forgot how rich Miles was.
And her two fathers were both ignoring the fact that they were literally already married in real life, acting like this was an actual honest-to-god proposal. Miles was down on one knee and giving Phoenix an imploring expectant look, and Phoenix was close to bursting into tears from happiness.
What was going on right now?
“Phoenix Wright, would you make me the happiest man in the world…and be my Stardew Valley Husband?”
“Oh, Miles! Yes, yes! I will be your husband!” Phoenix was grinning, throwing his hands around Miles in a loving hug. “I love you, Miles!”
The two were laughing with each other and legitimately crying, and Trucy was both confused and amazed. It was cute and romantic, how they were treating a video game marriage proposal like a real one…but also, very very ridiculous.
“My dads are dorks…” Trucy murmured to herself.
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The day of the Stardew Valley wedding came.
Something had come up on the in-game day before the wedding—Athena had called Phoenix to ask help for a particularly tough case—so they had to stop playing for the IRL day. It was only days later when they could play again, much to her fathers’ delight, both excited for the Stardew Valley wedding. Miles was sorely disappointed when he found out he couldn’t plan the wedding himself, to which Phoenix immediately made a joke that only he’d get disappointed that he couldn’t plan an in-game wedding. They laughed about it, it was comforting, hearing their gentle natural banter that they’d settled into after living with each other and being a family for years. Trucy loved it, honestly.
Trucy sat back and watched the wedding cutscene with a smile, seeing her fathers’ little player characters with tuxedos. Miles had basically demanded Phoenix wear a tuxedo for the wedding ceremony, instead of just his usual farmer outfit. She let the cutscene play out, Mayor Lewis announcing the couple as husband and husband, Miles and Phoenix’s kiss, and the upbeat music that played along with Marnie dancing. Though Trucy knew that sadly, that was all there was to the wedding ceremony. Soon the three were back in their houses, and Trucy peeked at her fathers, seeing the disappointment on their faces.
“…That’s it?” Miles frowned. “That was underwhelming.”
“I thought it’d be like, an actual wedding.” Phoenix said.
“Nope, that’s it!” Trucy said, looking back to her laptop and having her player character go outside her house. “That’s the wedding. We gotta go back to farming now.”
Phoenix nodded and went to tend to his animals, meanwhile Miles looked thoughtful.
“Trucy…” Miles spoke up, catching the attention of daughter. “Perchance, are there mods to expand the wedding?”
Trucy was grinning at that. “Now you’re speaking my language!”